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Grandpa's special name I grew up on a farm owned by my grandfather, James W. Jackson Sr. Grandpa and Grandma came to Lee County in the 1940s while my grandpa worked for the REA and farmed tobacco. They raised 10 children and in turn had bunches of grandchildren. I was born in 1960 and named after Debbie Reynolds, one of my mother's favorite actresses. But until the day he died, my grandpa called me Betty. There were many stories why he did this. One was that he had asked my parents to name me Betty, and since they didn't he just called me Betty anyway. Grandma said it was because he couldn't say "Debbie" properly and she would shout at him, "Jim, her name is Debbie!" I would get embarrassed when he called me Betty in front of everyone, especially when they laughed. My grandpa died when I was 12 and I hadn't thought about "Betty" much since then, until recently as I reminisced with a cousin about long ago times on the farm. She jokingly brought up the subject of grandpa and the name he called me. It was then I realized the special bond Grandpa and I had shared. Debbie Jackson |
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